Petro de Luanda suspended for two years and postponed the championship and the Super Cup – The Observer

It is such a scandal rocking Angola football that it has already led to the postponement of the start of the season. Petro de Luanda, a two-time national champion and Super Cup winner, who is coached by Portugal’s Alexandre Santos, has been suspended for two years by the Angolan Football Federation (FAF), over the club’s involvement in alleged corruption schemes.

There are audio messages in question, released over the past few months that suggest a payment Petro made to Académica do Lobito as an incentive to win the 1.° de Agosto in the Angola Cup last season (which Petro would win).

And in a message revealed in June, the coach of the Academica do Lobito, Agostino Tramagal, can be heard He claims to have received the sum of three million kwanzas (about 3,368 euros). for the same purpose. A third of the amount will be yours, and the rest will be shared by the team. In another audio recording, recently published on social media, the player of the capital’s club, Marcio Lofambo, confirms that this bribe was paid.

The CAF Disciplinary Body said, in a statement, that the sanction was applied for “failure to comply with the duty of cooperation that you are bound by with CAF, within the scope of the disciplinary process that has been established.” In addition to Petro de Luanda, Agostinho Tramagal was also suspended by the federation for four years.

But the sanctions were not limited to the Petro case. Palanca team Kaposcorp was sentenced to relegation to the second divisionalso on charges of corruption during the Jirabola qualifiers, and banning club president Bento Kangamba for four years.

1.° de Agosto was fined 2,000 kwanzas (€2.25) for non-compliance with its duties to the FAF, and the role of Adolfo Manuel, a journalist for Radio Nacional de Angola, as mediator in the alleged wrongdoing involving Kabuscorp and Académica. Do Lobito.

And it ended with the cancellation of the Angolan Super Cup match between Petro de Luanda and Académica do Lobito, scheduled for Sunday, and the postponement of the Angolan championship match, Jirabolla, which was scheduled for two weeks from now.

In accordance with the official statement issued by the FAF, we inform you of this The postponement of the Super Cup match scheduled for the 3rd of this month, as well as the start of the Grappola on September 15th“While we await further developments on the reactions to this same statement,” said Jose Neves, head of FIFA’s Sports Technical Council.

However, Petro de Luanda had already arrived, Respond to the news of your suspension. In a statement on Saturday, the club rejected the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Board and promised to appeal the decision.

“We would like to emphasize that At no time has APL (Atlético Petroleo de Luanda) refused to cooperate with CD/FAF And even everything has been done to fulfill your requests. Evidence of this is the mutual contacts between the two institutions, which attest to their willingness to cooperate,” can be read in the statement, in which the club appealed to the masses and the trade union community to “remain calm” until the situation is resolved. .